In a few hours at a single crosswalk, Montgomery County police cited 72 drivers for failure to yield to pedestrians. Image: Mymcpnews.com

But police in Montgomery County, Maryland, recently did pedestrian safety enforcement the right way: rather than target the victims of traffic violence, they targeted the only party capable of inflicting injury and death — drivers. Ben Ross at Greater Greater Washington reports that law enforcement officials were surprised by the number of infractions they saw:

So many drivers don’t yield to pedestrians that catching them is “like shooting fish in a barrel,” a surprised Montgomery County police officer remarked Wednesday. The police ticketed 72 violators in 2½ hours—one every two minutes—at a single crosswalk on Veirs Mill Road.

Capt. Thomas Didone, head of the police traffic enforcement division, explained the reasoning behind the “sting” to the Patch. “Officers would typically attempt to enforce that kind of law by driving around a high-traffic area and looking for drivers not following the rules,” he said. “That’s not very efficient.”

Ross points out that this campaign had another important benefit — it got police officers out of squad cars and on their feet:

Police who drive all day don’t understand the reality of walking on the county’s roadways. When you get out of the squad car and join the thousands who cross Veirs Mill every day (it’s among the county’s busiest bus corridors), you suddenly learn that “it’s kind of scary.”

Foot patrols succeeded in calming downtown Silver Spring after a series of brawls in 2010. But they ended once the brawls went away. Street fighting is hardly Montgomery County’s biggest law enforcement problem. Driver violations of pedestrian rights are ubiquitous, and they do far more harm. There are as many pedestrian deaths per year in the county as homicides.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Urban Milwaukee explains how Wisconsin Republicans have successfully torpedoed rail projects for decades. Human Transit delves into the topic of using development fees to fund transit investment. And Bike Portland reports that local Walgreens stores are, for some reason, refusing drive-thru service to cyclists.

After a spate of pedestrian deaths, my city started cracking down on drivers violating the crosswalk by using decoys. They also were very public about it in social media and through the local newspaper. They created my most favorite Vine video ever: http://vine.co/v/bHgmH9hEHJv

Ian Turner

This type of sting operation is actually extremely common in certain communities.

The police in Oregon (both Portland and the suburbs) are quite good at this sort of sting–and apparently, Portland’s mayor is going to be the “dummy” pedestrian in such an operation: http://t.co/9A1tDIHJgn

walkedmileseveryday

I find the first half of the article very offensive and against social values. I didn’t read the rest. Have you ever written ONE ARTICLE or EVEN ONE WORD, that suggests too many (50%?) modern day pedestrians are their own worst enemy? They do not make eye contact (let alone act like they see others), “dawdle” across intersections often preventing any cars from turning left (I’ll let those with wheelchairs, canes, and strollers take lots of time) Force moving cars to stop dangerously, block traffic, therefore increasing global warming, often talk on cell phones, and actually stand there and have conversations. Websites like this create a bad name for functional pedestrians, as I was one for 18 years.

PS: I would love to know of one program that educates pedestrians on proper, safe, and polite ways to cross a street or use a sidewalk….

walkedmileseveryday

If you really are concerned about “Unnecessary pollution and congestion”, write some articles about pedestirans who drivers can appreciate.

Anonymous

I walk no less than 10 miles per week through a variety of settings, including urban settings, suburban settings, and others. Of all the places I walk, the ones that I have the greatest problem with are suburban ones – even suburban ones where there exists an excellent sidewalk network on a grid “block” layout.

The most common problem is crossing at a crosswalk – especially crosswalks with a stop sign. Not one of those “Stop here for Pedestrians” signs that are popping up all over, but a traditional octagon big-as-day glowing red stop sign.

What happens is that a car is coming toward the stop sign as I am approaching the crosswalk. The car is often speeding. If I anticipate that the car will stop as it is required to do, it could be a deadly mistake. What all too frequently happens is that the car charges into the intersection having failed to stop. The goal, apparently, is to beat me – the pedestrian – through the intersection, irrespective of whether I have already stepped off the curb into the crosswalk. In fact, twice in the past three months a driver has ran the stop sign completely and intentionally squeezed between me (located a single step from the center line) and the curb line. I could touch the side of the car in each case without extending my arm. Oh, and I wasn’t dawdling across – I have a pretty long stride and do not move with intent to obstruct traffic flow. My neighbors jokingly comment, in fact, on the pace my dog keeps when we’re moving about.

I’d rather see public dollars go toward enforcement stings than toward training pedestrians to recognize what they already know: Cars don’t stop for pedestrians – not even where there’s a traffic control device requiring them to stop, let alone other areas.

Maybe if I made better eye contact with the drivers speeding toward the intersection, that might make them stop. But then again, I think my eye contact would have to be Medusa-like in order to be effective; fiercely sick snake dreads, too.

Yeah, that might work.

http://transitized.com/ Shaun Jacobsen

The amount of people on here that feel pedestrians are at their own fault for their injuries/deaths while being hit by a car is incredible and nearly offensive. I walk several hours a day around my Chicago neighborhood and am astonished at how many people do not stop, do not obey pedestrians waiting to cross at a marked intersection, who blow through 4-way stops while on their phone, right-turn on red without stopping, et cetera… And people have the audacity to blame pedestrians? I WISH I were as lethal as an automobile while walking outdoors. My fist can barely inflict a dent on a passing car disobeying the laws and decent humanity.

gneiss

I fail to see how your irritation at pedestrian ‘misdeeds’ qualifies you to suggest that this absolves motorists from obeying the law. You are the one who could kill someone through your actions – not the pedestrian.

So even if they are slow, don’t make eye contact (please tell me which law requires people to make eye contact) or otherwise alert drivers to their presence while crossing *legally* in a crosswalk, you MUST obey the law and stop for them.

The moralizing of non-motorist behavior by motorists never fails to amaze me. It’s as if the only way to excuse their rude and inconsiderate behavior is to somehow engage in transference of their emotional state to people who are completely blameless.

Jeffrey Baker

Yes, but it doesn’t seem to have a permanent effect. Every time the SFPD does this type of thing they find 1/3rd of drivers are either unlicensed or uninsured. Every time. That means it’s a permanent condition.

Scofflaw penalties for driving without a license or registration should be steeper.

Anonymous

@walkedmileseveryday:disqus You seem to be struggling to understand the issue here. The problem isn’t really who is at fault but that our urban environment is built so poorly that when a pedestrian (or cyclist) screws up the price they pay is being maimed or even killed. On the other hand, the price the motorist pays when they screw up is definitely not with their health and safety, and further they rarely face any punishment because it was obviously an “unfortunate accident” that they didn’t see the pedestrian. (But speaking to the issue of blame, don’t you think it’s even just a little unfair how when pedestrians screw up its their fault but when motorists screw up its an “unfortunate accident”?) Do you really think we can’t do any better than making our cities cold and unforgiving places for pedestrians who, like all human beings (including motorists), screw up? Is that really what you believe? If so, then here’s an analogy for you: let’s get rid of all guard rails on roads that skirt cliffs. After all, if you are paying attention, you shouldn’t be going off the road. But we do put up guard rails? Why, because people screw up and we account for that by making the roads as *forgiving* as we can. Now why can’t we start making that part of the design of roads in urban areas? That’s the real issue.

Amy

I am a courteous walker who shows appreciation to the drivers who do stop by extending a thank you gesture yet some drivers will STILL try to hit me because they are too impatient! I can understand some walkers are rude walkers who will not look, care or attempt to hurry along but many of us are not like that and some that are like that state it is because of the treatment they have recieved from drivers.

Jakub Muszynski

Whenever I see a pedestrian trying to cross it always shockes me while the guy on the bike (that is me) stops for the pedestrian, there are aways quite of few cars that try to zoom past while the pedestrian crosses.

Andrew

Can Montgomery County swap cops with New York City? Please?

https://twitter.com/peternocturnal peternatural

Sometimes when biking I wait at a green light for a slow-moving pedestrian. So what? If I was in a hurry I would have left earlier.

RD Frazier

I have seen this sting a few times by SF Bay Area law enforcement agencies on a news segment on a local TV station (KRON). The segment is called “People Behaving Badly”. An office in plain clothes will step into a intersection to see if cars will stop. More often than not they do not. An out-of-sight patrol car or motorcycle officer will then pull the offender over and cite them.

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